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Jul 30, 2008 3:50 pm US/Eastern
Another Video Alleging Police Brutality Emerges
Man Repeatedly Hit With Baton By NYPD Officers Caught On Video
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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The cyclist in the white t-shirt moments before a police officer in front of him slams him to the ground apparently for no reason.
CBS
A day after a video emerged showing a police officer knocking a cyclist to the ground, a second video alleging police brutality has come to light.
This latest video, at a Lower East Side park, shows 46-year-old Michael Cephus being repeatedly hit with a metal baton, as officers tried to cuff him.
"Oh, I'm hurting. I'm devastated. I look up to the police, or I used to," Cephus told CBS 2 HD.
Only a day earlier, video surfaced of an officer in Times Square last Friday, who appears to push a cyclist to the ground. Both officers have been placed on modified duty.
Is there need for more training? Police commissioner Ray Kelly thinks not.
"We have training in the use of force and when it's appropriate, we do extensive training in that regard," he said.
Cephus said he was bringing ice into a park, when he encountered two police officers checking for liquor. He dropped his bag, and says he was hit 10 to 12 times on the shoulder and upper arms, before a bystander's camera even started.
In the complaint, Officer Harrington and his partner said Cephus appeared drunk, and when they stopped him, he struck them with an umbrella and his fists.
"I would never do that," Cephus said. "I would never hit an officer."
PBA head Patrick Lynch says Cephus resisted and held onto the baton.
"What I saw was a police officer acting appropriately, using the necessary amount of force to put this person under arrest," he said, adding it was ot excessive force.
Cephus's attorney Steven Orlow disagrees.
"This was extraordinarily excessive," he said.
The PBA head says cops are not out of control.
"We cannot take a piece of video and condemn an entire department. Take it in its entirety. Do an investigation based on facts not emotion," said Lynch.
Orlow said if proper procedure was used in subduing him, that procedure needs to be changed.
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